And he accepts that Arsenal will deserve to be judged on their prospects for the coming season in the Community Shield against Manchester City - because their results against title rivals in 2013-14 were so poor.

Wenger said: "Of course you want to start strongly because we have the memory of what happened last year on the first day of the season, although it did not stop us from being top of the league for more than 100 days.

"I accept that, in the modern world, you are judged on every single game so I don't have a problem with us being judged on our performance on Sunday.

"We have an opportunity to show we have grown since the FA Cup final. Maybe we are not ready physically, but it will be a good test."

Wenger confirmed German World Cup-winning trio Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukaz Podolski will return to training on Monday, but all three will miss the Premier League kick-off against Crystal Palace next weekend.